Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

In the documentary “Big Sky, Big Money” that we watched in class, we saw that the distinguishing characteristics between issue advocacy and express advocacy are a few key words: “vote for”, “elect”, “support”, “cast your ballot for”, “_____ for Congress”, “vote against”, “defeat", and "reject”. This was decided in the landmark 1976 Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo.

In 1974, Congress passed significant amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) in an attempt to regulate federal campaign contributions. President Ford signed the bill into law on October 15, 1974. The amended law limited contributions to candidates for federal office, required the disclosure of political contributions, limited expenditures by candidates and associated committees, and limited independent expenditures to $1,000, among others.

Senator James Buckley and numerous other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Columbia on January 2, 1975. The named defendant was Francis Valeo, who represented the US government.

The Supreme Court issued a per curiam (unsigned) opinion. The Court ruled that several key campaign finance laws were unconstitutional and violated the First Amendment. The Court struck down limits on expenditures by candidates and limits on independent expenditures but upheld limits on contributions to candidates. The Court also upheld mandatory disclosure and reporting provisions, but narrowed the extent to which it can apply. It also struck down the system by which members of Congress directly appointed FEC commissioners.

Buckley v. Valeo established that spending money is essential to disseminating speech. It’s ruling has since been extended by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010).

Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/scandal/etc/ads.html
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/75-436